NekoAudio

+1 for a direct box to convert balanced to unbalanced or vice versa. As Dreadhead stated, it can damage your DAC if you short negative and ground.

Well, some will argue modern op-amps can do an extremely good job and would consider them a comparable choice to discrete implementations. My opinion in this specific case is pretty obvious, as Azazel says, but I'm totally in agreement with him where sometimes active or complex gives you better results than passive or simple. I am using an active pre-amp at the moment (although I have some uncooked ideas for an active pre-amp design). Here's an interesting publication: opamp_distortion.pdf. (Hopefully that link is right--it's being super slow to download so I can't check it at the moment. I could email it to anyone if they want; it's about 30MB.) I still don't believe sine and sweep measurements are good enough to capture the performance of analog audio output circuits though.

1) Fully balanced means the internal circuit is also balanced, and not just that you have balanced output jacks. The benefit of a balanced internal circuit means that internal noise gets rejected, just like a balanced cable rejects any noise that shows up. The downside is you have to double your circuitry, which costs more. 2) Wikipedia has some DAC types listed, along with their characteristics. The most common ones you read about are R2R and Delta-Sigma. 4) I/V stands for current to voltage conversion. The reason this pops up is because a lot of DAC chips are output in terms of current. In other words, instead of representing peaks and valleys as +1V and -1V, they do so as +1A and -1A (those aren't real numbers, but you get the idea). But the output signal needs to be in terms of voltage, so you have to do the conversion. Thus the importance of doing the conversion well. The reason DAC chips like to output current is because you can get better results controlling current, and so your specs are better. (This doesn't concern DACs directly, but perhaps it is interesting to you: Voltage vs. Current Mode Control Curent Sharing in a PolyPhase DC/DC Converter.)

This was, of course, one of my primary concerns. But I've been at somewhat of a loss to figure out exactly what I can do to enforce it. This is in part why I am requiring to know the address, phone number, and tracking number. I thought about holding against a credit card, but I already offer a 30-day trial period with a full refund minus shipping, so a loaner program that required me to hold against a card wouldn't be much different. I also thought about how loaner programs on established forums allow you to have some idea of how trustworthy a person is based on how long they've been on the forum and history, but I'm unable to coordinate my program on a single forum. There are just too many forums and many of them specialized. The first person in line for the Canada program is someone I've been communicating with for some time now, so at least I am comfortable sending one to him. I think Canada and U.S. trade problems are somewhat easier to file complaints about--I did have to do file one a long time ago. If anyone has any ideas, they would be more than welcome.

Unfortunately no. I still don't have a unit that will work for 220V 50Hz power. Sorry. There has been a lot of overseas interest. :-S Your statement makes no sense. I don't understand the words that are coming out of your mouth. You can't stop buying DACs. These are not the droids you are looking for. ('*_*)/~

I'm happy to announce the Neko Audio D100 loaner program. Basically, this lets you sign up to audition the D100 in your own home without making a purchase. What's better than that? There are two programs in operation, one for U.S. residents and one for Canadian residents. Click the links for more detail. U.S. Loaner Program Canada Loaner Program

My naive guess would be he's the same oatmeal769 on the other site.

Enjoy the Music.com has published a review of the Neko Audio D100 in their July 2009 issue. I think this is one of the best parts: "One of two things are in play here: either the D100 is correct and the active tube output stage in the Havana is adding coloration to the music, or the D100 is shortchanging the harmonics." Nels Ferre was the reviewer, and he did comparisons against the KECES DA-131 and MHDT Labs Havana.

Nope. But since Bulgaria is next to Romania, I suspect its music is similar to Romanian music? Of which the little I've heard, I've liked. My most recent batch of purchases included music from Japan, Norway, and Germany.

Ah! There's actually one type of music that sounds like that to me. But I won't say at the risk of offending those who like it (e.g. the people of that country).

I personally find it easiest to hear differences in my 2-channel reference setup. This is speakers, not headphones. My home theater setup, which is in the exact same room and has more expensive stuff along the entire chain, is not as accurate and precise as my 2-channel setup. For identifying differences quickly, I have certain songs where the first 10 or 20 seconds of the track is particularly complex or unique, and use the remote to change pre-amp inputs. This usually lets me hear things like flute notes being less separated on one versus the other, or music with high levels of acoustic energy translating into noise or loss of control. I also hide behind a curtain and do this for friends. Another test is to try and actually identify distortion. I've heard and heard of lots of gear that have excellent THD+N sine wave measurements but are obviously heavily distorting music. This usually translates into more acoustic energy (i.e. louder and more stuff to hear) but also treble fatigue and less controlled bass. I don't like to color people's opinions by mentioning these things before or while they are listening. But sometimes after they've come to their initial conclusions, I like to mention this. Sometimes to hear differences you have to listen for something other than what you usually listen to. Like the less audible harmony while ignoring the singer's voice. Or violin vibrato while ignoring the rolling bass drums. I started music lessons when I was like four or something and grew up playing solo piano and violin, and later trumpet in a band, so maybe that's why I end up listening to those sorts of things. I also find that I don't naturally tune out environmental noise during conversations, which makes it harder to hear what people are saying.... On the plus side that means I get just as much enjoyment out of music in languages I don't understand!

Thanks for posting your thoughts, USG, even if they aren't as favorable towards the D100 as I would have liked.

AFAIK the U.S. P-200 is shipping, since I have one. But It's half the price of the P1 which I also heard through the grapevine would be ~$3000.

My favorite Neko Audio D100 gear combination so far as been at a dealer room. VTL TL-7.5 pre-amp, Spectron Musician III amp, and Analysis Audio full range ribbons. That's about $40k list with the smallest ribbon speakers, more if you get the larger ones. Very sensitive to room and speaker arrangement. Unfortunately, that still isn't perfect because: ribbons don't do "real" bass even in their largest form--I built my own subwoofers because nothing available commercially, except for the rotary woofer which requires a house mod to install, would give me what I want. ribbons are relatively inefficient and have a maximum SPL lower than what would be ideal. ribbons can be destroyed by the sort of air movement my subwoofers are capable of. Conclusion: my ideal speaker does not exist.

Thanks, Hopstretch and Iron_Dreamer. It was great meeting both of you.

Affordable$$Audio's June issue just came out and features a review of the Neko Audio D100. "...the best DAC I've used to date." - Jake Montzingo, Affordable$$Audio, Issue 42

I can only speak anecdotally from when I was designing the unit, but everything remained about room temperature to my touch: the chips, voltage regulator heat sinks, transformers. (Don't do this at home, kids.)

Oh, sorry if I came across a little blunt. Didn't mean to. The D100 supports RCA inputs on your pre-amp without the need for a converter like the Isomax. Since the D100 uses output transformers you can use XLR female to RCA male cables without affecting the signal quality.

dimitris, the reviews at PFO and TONEAudio are both with speakers instead of headphones. A Tale of Two DACs ...the Bel Canto e.One Dac 3 and the Neko Audio D100 The Neko Audio D-100 DAC There is also a review on the Neko Audio forum D100 vs Transporter DAC--MichaelHiFi also posted a less detailed version on the AV123 Forum but their forum has undergone some changes and I can't find it there anymore.

I'm bringing my MacBook which will let people listen with a wide variety of songs. I've already confirmed that the optical output doesn't have a noisy signal so that should work fine. I'm also going to have a Denon DVD player with both coaxial and optical outputs for anyone who brings a CD.

Thanks for posting your thoughts, tkam, and I'm very glad you're enjoying the D100. Actually my master plan is to inundate you with great reviews until you can't help yourself. With respect to publications, Positive Feedback Online and TONEAudio Magazine have given rave reviews and I have more positive reviews in the pipeline. The other side is to answer any questions you have about the D100. Thus my forum participation. I also spend a lot of time answering email. I'm a very technical person and so I like people to understand why the D100 is good. It's because I'm a geek. 100 lets me increment numbers like a versioning system and a D in front tells me it's a DAC. I thought about picking names from my cats. How about the Neko Audio Nami?

Okay, here's what I will be bringing assuming everything arrives in time: Neko Audio D100, of course. Denon DVD-1710 and MacBook transports. AKG K 702 and Sennheiser HD650 headphones. Channel Islands VHP-2, Luxman P-200, and HeadAmp GS-X (thank you, morphsci). Thank you, everyone, for helping me out. I'm still bringing the Channel Islands for people to use as a comparison point.

Okay, looks like Singlepower is out. My preference is solid state, and I'd rather pick up something that someone has put some research into than to rush a design within a couple of weeks. morphsci, are you Justin? I just sent an email to Justin asking about the GS-1 since I had a question about it. But I'd be glad to do a gear swap. I've inquired about picking up a Grado GS-1, so I'll try to bring both that and the AKG K 702 I have on order. Thanks again for all your replies. Please keep any additional suggestions coming.

Todd got back to me and the Luxman P-200 isn't in stock, with a slight chance of arriving in time for Can Jam. So that doesn't look like an option right now.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, guys. I've emailed TTVJ about the Luxman P-200 to try and get more info about it--see if it would be a good match for the D100. I'm looking at the Grado RS1 as a headphone option. Do you guys have any opinions regarding the RS1? HeadphoneAddict, do you have any details about the Single Power Square Wave XL? I couldn't find much except for pictures. If you're actually willing to send me a loaner. Balanced versus unbalanced shouldn't matter much, although no doubt the Can Jam room will be a noisier environment than your typical home. But good channel separation, signal-to-noise, and no coloration of the sound is important. The D100's channel separation and signal-to-noise is pretty much at the limits of the Audio Precision ATS-2 (i.e. around -130dB).